"My brother, I am exactly where I should be. Where else would I be?"
Varex sprawled languidly in a plush, ornate high-back chair aboard the Golden Dawn. Around him stood a large contingent of Astartes, well-equipped and nurous. He watched the screen with smug satisfaction, seeing the nearly distorted face of Telax. The irritation of being publicly humiliated by the veteran—and having a suit of power armor snatched away—subsided slightly, replaced by a cat-and-mouse sense of perverse amusent.
"I am truly glad you made it back from that sinking wreck."
"Save your hypocrisy, you pile of under-hive xenos filth." If looks could kill, the Warband Leader would have been riddled with holes. Telax glared at the vox-caster emitting the voice, his gauntleted hand reflexively stroking the hilt of his weapon. "Every ti, you give grander promises, and every ti, you fail to deliver. This ti, you abandoned us—brothers who have bled with you through fire and void... Draw your sword, mongrel."
Varex's smile vanished.
"Am I to take that as a challenge, my dear brother?" he said oilily, casually crushing the skull of a serving slave with one hand. "You are always so insatiable. You needed recruits, so I went to Fabius. You wanted to be left alone, so I gave you the Lash of Agony. And now... you wish to seize my authority?"
"You fool, deserving only to be burned to ash by the False Emperor! I boarded and captured the Lash myself; it has nothing to do with you! As for Fabius, wasn't it because the Craftworld rats killed so many of our brothers that you had no choice but to seek him out? Stop hiding on your so-called throne. Co out and duel —only the victor has the right to rule!"
"How tragic. If you insist on this path, then our brotherhood ends here."
Varex spoke grimly, his hand instinctively pressing a button on his armrest, intending to flood the area with toxic gas and kill everyone present. However, he had forgotten one detail: this ship was not his fully modified Velvet Abyss, but the newly seized vessel of a Rogue Trader. The ship did not possess such a modification.
With a sharp crack, the jewel-encrusted armrest simply crumbled into powder.
"Excellent." Telax fully unsheathed his weapon, the tip of his lash whistling through the air as it swept toward the incessant vox-speaker. "It seems luck isn't on your side either."
A heavy barrage slamd into the void shields, and the Golden Dawn shuddered violently.
The lashing whip struck the cables beside the speaker, tearing the device from the wall. Simultaneously, Enkidu reached out, his hand firmly gripping Telax's shoulder.
"Are you going to side with that madman Varex too, Brother Enkidu?!"
"Hee... it seems your brother isn't quite so reliable either." Varex sat back down, savoring this scene of brotherly betrayal. "Do not forget, my dear Brother Telax, that everything he is belongs to ... his life, his na, his power armor, even the first breath of air he drew. And what can you give him? Three years of training and proximity?"
Veins pulsed on Telax's forehead. Enkidu had to increase his strength just to keep the Chaos veteran from charging out to start a blood-feud right then and there.
"Get back, Enkidu," Telax growled, his face darkening with fury. "This doesn't involve you. Don't interfere."
"Is it possible that I don't give a damn about the drama between you two?" Enkidu said flatly, his eyes radiating a profound exhaustion. "Have either of you considered that this isn't a good ti for a civil war? If we don't escape now, that Aeldari fleet out there is going to kill us all."
At the sa ti, he sent a private, encrypted vox-transmission.
[Let go! I'd rather die with him than see that idiot preening in front of for another second.]
[Can you be quiet for a mont, Great Lord Telax?]
Enkidu was ntally drained. In his effort to keep the situation from spiraling, he felt like he was struggling to restrain a "bolting Husky"—he looked calm on the surface, but he was on the verge of collapse. If he hadn't had the foresight to swap his broken helt for a functional one on the shuttle, he wouldn't even have a way to send Telax a private ssage now.
[First, I am not at all opposed to you killing him. Second, now is not the ti; you aren't prepared for a guaranteed win yet.]
[So, you want to keep serving that bastard?]
[Of course not.] Once again, Enkidu realized that this world truly belonged to "giant babies." If the Primarchs (excepting Guilliman) were colossal, father-complex-ridden toddlers, then the Astartes were just a smaller breed of the sa: opinionated, arrogant, and prone to explosive rage. [I'm saying we might have a chance to escape, and after that, you can kill him yourself.]
[Escape?] Telax let out a cold huff, though his tone had softened noticeably. [How? Those rats have brought an entire fleet. We have two ships.]
[Ask the one from Commorragh. You told once that the Craftworld rats and the Commorragh filth are essentially the sa race. Since they are kin, no one understands the rats' thods better than they do. I just hope you didn't play with him so hard that he's dead.]
[A thing like that won't die so easily. Their lifespans are as resilient as an Ambull's.] The raging fire in Telax's eyes gradually settled. He gave Enkidu a aningful look. [I can agree not to strike him for now, but you must show your sincerity.]
The other end of the vox remained silent for a mont, but Telax noticed two more individuals had been added to the private chat.
[Report your positions and duties.]
[Truen reporting. Currently at the Golden Dawn's plasma reactor, maintaining stable output.]
[Varangis reporting. The Lord Captain of this vessel has agreed to cooperate; the mortals will assist us fully. Following Lord Enkidu's orders, I have secured dical supplies for treatnt.]
"Fine. I'll rember this," Telax said ambiguously. He gave his shoulder a slight shrug, letting Enkidu's hand slide off. "For the sake of the other brothers, I will stay my blade for now. Everything will be settled once we are clear of danger. I will coordinate with your actions, but I will no longer follow any of your orders. That is my final advice to you... my forr Captain."
"And I look forward to seeing what kind of performance you put on for , Sergeant Telax."
The Warband Leader's voice drifted from another vox-speaker. Telax didn't look back as he marched toward the interrogation room.
Even though this ship was a superior Battlecruiser, the duration of its void shields was finite. He needed to find the Drukhari Archon and squeeze every scrap of intelligence out of him before ti ran out.
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